PayForge

AI invoicing & auto-chasing for game dev freelancers – get paid faster.

Score: 8.2/10CanadaMedium BuildReady to Spawn
Brand Colors

The Opportunity

Problem

Solo game developers face rampant payment delays and non-paying clients in freelance gaming gigs, resulting in severe cash flow disruptions.

Solution

PayForge generates game-specific invoices with milestones and sends automated, polite reminders based on payment history patterns. It tracks delays in real-time and predicts risky clients using anonymized data. Devs recover 90% more late payments without manual follow-ups.

Target Audience

Solo freelance game developers working on gaming gigs

Differentiator

AI analyzes game gig data to score client reliability and customize reminder tones, unlike basic invoicing tools.

Brand Voice

friendly

Features

Smart Invoice Gen

must-have7h

Create invoices with game asset breakdowns & milestones.

Auto Reminders

must-have10h

Escalating email/SMS chases based on delays.

Client Risk Scoring

must-have12h

AI score predicts payment reliability from gig data.

Payment Tracker

must-have6h

Real-time dashboard of outstanding invoices.

Templates Library

must-have5h

Pre-built for Unity/Unreal gigs, art, sound.

Bulk Send

nice-to-have4h

Send reminders to multiple clients at once.

Integrations

nice-to-have5h

Connect to Discord/Slack for alerts.

Reporting

nice-to-have3h

Export payment recovery stats.

Total Build Time: 52 hours

Database Schema

users

ColumnTypeNullable
iduuidNo
emailtextNo
nametextNo
created_attimestampNo

Relationships:

  • invoices.user_id -> users.id

invoices

ColumnTypeNullable
iduuidNo
user_iduuidNo
client_emailtextNo
amountintNo
statustextNo
due_datetimestampNo

Relationships:

  • reminders.invoice_id -> invoices.id

reminders

ColumnTypeNullable
iduuidNo
invoice_iduuidNo
sent_attimestampNo
typetextNo

clients

ColumnTypeNullable
iduuidNo
user_iduuidNo
emailtextNo
risk_scoreintYes

API Endpoints

POST
/api/invoices

Generate invoice

🔒 Auth Required
POST
/api/invoices/:id/remind

Trigger reminder

🔒 Auth Required
GET
/api/clients/score

Get client risk score

🔒 Auth Required
GET
/api/dashboard

Outstanding payments overview

🔒 Auth Required

Tech Stack

Frontend
Next.js 14 + Tailwind + shadcn/ui
Backend
Next.js API + Supabase
Database
Supabase Postgres
Auth
Supabase Auth
Payments
Stripe (for invoice links)
Hosting
Vercel
Additional Tools
OpenAI API for AI scoringResend for emails

Build Timeline

Week 1: Auth & invoice basics

18h
  • User signup
  • Invoice CRUD

Week 2: Reminders & tracking

22h
  • Auto-reminder cron
  • Dashboard

Week 3: AI scoring & templates

20h
  • Client scoring
  • Templates lib

Week 4: Polish & launch

12h
  • Integrations
  • Beta test

Week 5: Nice-to-haves

10h
  • Bulk & reports
Total Timeline: 5 weeks • 82 hours

Pricing Tiers

Free

$0/mo

No AI scoring

  • 10 invoices/mo
  • Basic reminders

Pro

$25/mo

50 clients

  • Unlimited invoices
  • AI scoring
  • Custom templates

Growth

$59/mo

None

  • All Pro + priority AI
  • Unlimited clients
  • API access

Revenue Projections

MonthUsersConversionMRRARR
Month 11203%$90$1,080
Month 69006%$1,350$16,200

Unit Economics

$12
CAC
$350
LTV
4%
Churn
88%
Margin
LTV:CAC Ratio: 29.2xExcellent!

Landing Page Copy

Never Chase Game Gig Payments Again

AI-powered invoices and reminders recover your cash flow – tailored for indie devs.

Feature Highlights

Smart risk scoring
Auto-chasing sequences
Game templates
Real-time tracking

Social Proof (Placeholders)

"'Recovered $5k in 2 weeks!' – Pixel Artist"
"'AI predictions are spot on.' – Unity Dev"

First Three Customers

Share invoice pain thread on r/gameDevClassifieds; Offer free Pro to devs posting 'late payment' stories on Twitter/X; Email itch.io top sellers for beta.

Launch Channels

Product Huntr/gameDevClassifiedsIndieHackersTwitter #gamedev

SEO Keywords

game developer invoicingfreelance game payment reminderindie dev invoice tracker

Competitive Analysis

FreshBooks

freshbooks.com
$19+/mo
Strength

Robust accounting

Weakness

Generic, no AI or game focus

Our Advantage

Game-specific AI chaser

🏰 Moat Strategy

Data moat from aggregated payment patterns improving AI.

⏰ Why Now?

Explosion of freelance game work post-UE5 accessibility, but payment woes rising with remote clients.

Risks & Mitigation

technicalmedium severity

AI accuracy issues

Mitigation

Start rule-based, iterate with data

marketlow severity

Devs use free tools

Mitigation

Free tier hooks

Validation Roadmap

pre-build5 days

Survey 20 devs on reminder prefs

Success: 70% would pay

launch35 days

PH launch

Success: 200 signups

Pivot Options

  • General freelancer invoicing
  • Game dev CRM

Quick Stats

Build Time
82h
Target MRR (6 mo)
$1,350
Market Size
$400.0M
Features
8
Database Tables
4
API Endpoints
4